It won't rank as a Holiday to remember

Arizona State vs. Texas Tech in the Holiday Bowl at Qualcomm Stadium. ASU Kevin Ozier is unable to hold onto this pass in the third quarter and the Sundevils were forced to settle for a field goal.
— Sean M. Haffey

Arizona State vs. Texas Tech in the Holiday Bowl at Qualcomm Stadium. ASU Kevin Ozier is unable to hold onto this pass in the third quarter and the Sundevils were forced to settle for a field goal.
— Sean M. Haffey

For a good while there I was thinking maybe Arizonans should just come to San Diego during the summer as usual and spend their Decembers doing whatever they do for kicks in the desert. You know, trim a tree, ride ATVs in the dunes, anything.

The last time a college football team from our neighbor to the east came to the Holiday Bowl was in 2009, and the Wildcats not only lost to Nebraska 33-0, they obviously just came along to come along. They enjoyed playing — at the Zoo and Sea World. It was a pathetic performance.

So rival Arizona State came out to meet Texas Tech on Monday night in the National University version of the Holiday and in the beginning the Sun Devils behaved as though a football was something for a podiatrist to remove.

Tech, a 14½-point underdog, came out smoking, poking fire at the Devils, with quarterback Davis Webb shredding the 16th-ranked Sun Devils for 201 yards passing in the first quarter (he’d throw for 403 on the night). The Raiders were up 27-6 in the second quarter and led 27-13 at the half, benefiting from ASU coach Todd Graham brain flatulence when he rushed on his field goal unit on third down and time left just before the break. The kick failed.

But, unlike Arizona, the Devils at least hung around and tried to make a game of it against a team that lost its last five games and somehow still made it here. But if the Zonies tried, they didn’t try hard enough, falling 37-23 in one of the least memorable Holidays. And there have been many memorable ones.

The bowl’s approaching middle age now, working on its seventh title sponsor. It turned 36 Monday, and there doesn’t appear to be any danger of a mid-life crisis — or late-life crisis, for that matter.

I couldn’t help but wonder aloud as Texas Tech — wearing horrible unis with indecipherable numbers (how does the NCAA allow such sartorial irregularity?) — was wearing out ASU early: What will the Holiday Bowl be like in 36 years? Will there be a Holiday Bowl in 36 years?

“Thirty-six years from now? God,” bowl Executive Director Bruce Binkowski was saying. “I would like to think it will be a major bowl in the bowl system. I’m hoping they will be about to build a new stadium — to replace the new one they’re going to build here soon.”

Bink, who makes a lot of money according to our Watchdog report, can afford to dream. But I’d like to think the Holiday still will be around. It’s not only good for college football, but for the city. It ironically was formed in 1978 because San Diego State had gone through back-to-back 10-1 seasons without a bowl bid. Alas, the Aztecs have been to one, in 1986.

Time limps on. It seems only this morning that I was standing next to Jack Murphy in the San Diego Stadium (which later would bear his name) press box in 1978. It was Navy-BYU in the first Holiday, and the late San Diego Union sports editor and columnist was instrumental in bringing the bowl to fruition. Jack took it seriously.

There was a very low ceiling that night and they turned off the stadium lights at halftime for a fireworks show. Well, it took about a half-hour for the lights to come back on and, because of the low ceiling, the smoke had nowhere to go, so there was a thick fog hanging in front of us.

“This will never happen again,” Jack growled around his pipe. It never did happen again.

And the Holiday moved on, providing some of the most exciting football games in college football history. The best game I’ve seen in person was the 1980 BYU-SMU Holiday, when BYU trailed 45-25 late in the game and won 46-45 on a Jim McMahon-to-Clay Brown Hail Mary.

When the Holiday Bowl began, it divided $437,290 as payout for the two teams. Now it’s $4.65 million. And with ties to the Pac-12 and Big Ten starting next year, it may become a mini-Rose Bowl. The Grandaddy now doesn’t always feature teams from the two conferences.

“It’s exciting,” Binkowski said. “We’re going to have some great matchups.”

That’s “going to have some great matchups.” Monday night’s was not one